The summer palace in Lhasa.
Today we got a chance to see the summer palace of the 14th Dalai Lama where he spent three summers from 1956 to 1959.
The summer palace is built in Norbulingka meaning 'treasure garden' or 'treasure park' and was built in the midst of 18th century (1952-1956) by the seventh Dalai Lama, Kelsang Gyatso.
Till the 20th century, efforts were made to increase the size of this park as well as beautify it. Spread across 36 hectares, it has 400 rooms.
Prior to this palace, the Dalai Lama used to reside in the Potala Palace.
Some analysts suggest that because of tense relations with China, Dalai Lama was shifted to a relatively small new palace. But some also refute this theory.
In 1959 Dalai Lama left Tibet to live in exile, in protest against China's invasion of Tibet and and since then this palace has been empty.
The Chinese government has kept the palace open for tourists, and Dalai Lama's followers come here in large numbers. Interestingly, this palace contains a lot of things belonging to the Dalai Lama, but not his picture.
Pilgrims bow their heads in front of his seat, his living room, and almost everywhere else in the palace. Here we met a Tibetan lady who knew Hindi and the moment she saw us she said India. When we asked her about Dalai Lama she said "wherever he is he should be well."
At the palace living room, we also saw a large radio which was presented by the first prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru to the Dalai Lama, apart from a painting.
Here, like many monasteries, photography is prohibited so we were not able to click pictures inside the palace. But of course we could take one of the palace itself.